Weekend winners
Jim Harbaugh. Loved his comments late last week about controversy following Urban Meyer's tenure at previous stops. Why is everyone surprised by a coach stating a fact? And, as Harbaugh asked rhetorically, maybe this is why people are afraid to actually speak their minds.
Mariano Rivera. Among the debatable class of Hall of Fame inductees was easily the GOAT closer. In fact, is there a more slam-dunk, no-way-to-debate-it conversation than Rivera as the best finisher in baseball history? In fact, his numbers make him one of the best pitchers of all time regardless of role.
Ronald Acuna Jr. How does 7-for-12 with a homer in the final three games of the Braves' four-game split with the Nationals sound? The only players to get to 50 quicker were Mel Ott, Tony Conigliaro and Andruw Jones.
LSU football players. Wow, talk about some swanky digs, check out the Tigers new locker room.
Manny Pacquiao. Dude became the oldest welterweight champ ever. At 40 and still boxing? Impressive.
Weekend losers
Baseball Hall of Fame. They need to open a Hall of Very Good and put guys like Harold Baines and Alan Trammell and Edgar Martinez in there. And the questions of how those dudes are in and Dale Murphy, Fred McGriff and especially Andruw Jones are not need to be asked. Often.
This Bleacher Report list of all-time quarterbacks. Egad. Hey, I get the thought process of interweb folks trying to get clicks, but wow, that list is truly awful. Namath at 7? Alex Smith on the list at all? Oh my. This has to be fake, right?
Darren McFadden. Dude dosed off in the drive-thru line at a Whattaburger and got a DWI. To make matters worse, he resisted arrest and could face jail time.
Any sports talking head who mentions Eli Manning and Daniel Jones. Buckets, camp is just starting and I'm already tired of that storyline.
J.B. Holmes. Wow, from the final group Saturday to finishing tied for 67th after an 87 Sunday. He made $25,088, which is a nice check for playing 72 holes of golf. If he shot even par Sunday, he would have finished second, which would have been worth $1.12 million.
THE Open was closed
Of course Shane Lowry won the weekend.
An Irishman winning THE Open in a walk-away in THE Open retiring to Ireland for the first time in 68 years.
He was amazing on Saturday with a 63 that allowed for a sizable and drama-sucking cushion in Sunday's final round.
The weather made par a chore and Lowry was content to let Tommy Fleetwood and the rest of the folks fall by the side.
I get the emotion, but for those of us wanting drama and major pressure, well, THE Open was THE worst.
Thoughts?
This and that
- Keep an eye on the dynamics around the Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz. LeBatard will not be on the radio today, which is reportedly his decision. Last Thursday he went on an inspired rant against President Trump and it turned into a mini-rant against ESPN's decision to go non-political. Right now LeBatard has a ton of leverage and swag considering the levels of popularity of his radio show and his podcast networks.
- Hard to be hotter than Mike Trout right now. Dude homered last night and has hit 10 in his last 13 games. Side question: With Trout and Shohei Ohtani, how are the Angels not on national TV more?
- The Falcons reported to camp over the weekend. Dan Quinn seems to like this bunch. Also of note, with a lot of teams wondering if their stars are going to report despite not being happy with their contracts, Julio Jones was in camp. Did you know that Julio Jones' last five years have produced more receiving yards (7,998 yards) than any receiver in any five-year period ever? Yes, ever.
- Miss Michigan was DQ-ed from the Miss World America contest for 'offensive' social media posts. Here are her tweets, which she has defended: "There is a 'try a hijab on' booth at my college campus. So you're telling me that it's now just a fashion accessory and not a religious thing? Or are you just trying to get women used to being oppressed under Islam?" And this one: "Did you know the majority of black deaths are caused by other blacks? Fix problems within your own community before blaming others." So there's that.
- Speaking of the Braves, with less than 10 days before the trading deadline, we all can agree that to be a serious contender to not only get to October but win in October, Atlanta needs to add some arms. Here's hoping the next addition will have as much success as Anthony Swarzak, who has a 0.42 ERA and has not allowed a run in 17 consecutive innings after a scoreless eighth in Sunday's win.
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers. Discuss.
Alex Trebek is 79 today. Keep fighting the good fight, Alex. Did you know that he has hosted "Jeopardy!" since 1984?
It's Hammock Day. So there's that.
It's Aunt Day. How do you pronounce the family term for your parent's sister?
Rushmore of MLB players not in the Hall that should be (non-steroid division, please)? Go.
